Mental health checks

This is a discussion on Mental health checks within the Concealed Carry Issues & Discussions forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; I may be moving to a state that includes a mental health check as part of its CCW approval process.
Exactly how do they do ...

I read your thread title "Mental health checks" and was hoping someone was finally paying salaries based on rational thinking. Silly me. If that were the case, can you imagine the rampant poverty of...the U.S. Congress?

I may be moving to a state that includes a mental health check as part of its CCW approval process.

Exactly how do they do this check? What types of treatments or disorders are they looking for? Doesn't HIPAA prevent them from opening medical records?

(I am not crazy, just curious because they don't recognize my current state's CCW because of that)

I think they get around it by getting signed permission from applicant to check mental health records. You don't have to authorize them to check the records, but then they don't have to issue you a permit.

Reality-- I don't think there is any state that actually delves into your medical records unless there is reason
to do so. It would be an extremely costly and time consuming thing to do. Then, they'd have to offer
some opportunity for you to rebut the truthfulness and accuracy of what they turned up.

I have never heard of a state sending an applicant for an interview with a psychiatrist or having an applicant
take some online version of the "minnesota personality profile test" Again, too costly and too little to be gained.

I think you are concerning yourself about something that will not turn out to be a big deal provided you answer
questions about involuntary hospitalization and dependency accurately.

If the Union is once severed, the line of separation will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are now debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried in fields of battle and determined by the sword.
Andrew Jackson

Re: Mental health checks

Originally Posted by rammerjammer

You may want to tell us what state it is so members can respond more accurately.

Washington

Originally Posted by Hopyard

Reality-- I don't think there is any state that actually delves into your medical records unless there is reason
to do so. It would be an extremely costly and time consuming thing to do. Then, they'd have to offer
some opportunity for you to rebut the truthfulness and accuracy of what they turned up.

I have never heard of a state sending an applicant for an interview with a psychiatrist or having an applicant
take some online version of the "minnesota personality profile test" Again, too costly and too little to be gained.

I think you are concerning yourself about something that will not turn out to be a big deal provided you answer
questions about involuntary hospitalization and dependency accurately.

I hope it's not. I mean, how many thousands of people have been prescribed prozac?

I'm pretty sure they are going to ask: If you are attacked by an armed assailant, would you take steps to defend yourself, or your family? If you answer "Yes," they may judge you mentally deficient and deny you a carry permit, lest you inadvertently shoot some miscreant and prevent him from earning a living in his chosen profession.

I hope it's not. I mean, how many thousands of people have been prescribed prozac?

Not to get political but what if it's coming??

No one knows the future. We can all "what if" everything in our lives, and by that process
scare ourselves silly and incapable of leaving our homes.

Asking "what if" is always a somewhat useful tool for avoiding mistakes, but the excessive use of the
"what if" question comes with a price; Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

What if a jet falls on your house?
What if your tires blow out?
What if an Army General marches on the White House and Congress?
What if I lose my job?
The list is endless.

What ifs, when combined with "mind reading"-- thinking that we know what others are thinking or what
others intend before they have told us -- are two very mentally unhealthy things to do to ourselves.

In this case the "what if" is --what if they (whoever they is) prohibit people who have taken prozac from having
guns. And the "mind reading" is making the assumption that someone (a legislature) is actually thinking that.

If the Union is once severed, the line of separation will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are now debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried in fields of battle and determined by the sword.
Andrew Jackson

Mental health checks

Have never been adjudicated mentally defective or incompetent to manage your own affairs.
Have never been committed to a mental institution.

If those don't apply, I wouldn't sweat it. If they do, you probably need some legal counsel to understand your options.

Washington state actually has very reasonable carry laws. Shall issue, no training requirement, legal limit on how long the process may take, "posted" signs do not carry weight of law (except where it is illegal o carry by state law), no prohibition on campus carry, state preemption of firearms laws so cities cannot make more restrictive laws and recognition in the state constitution of the *individual* right to firearms.

The primary downsides are no carry in bars, or (k-12) school and no SBR or SBS. Silencers are allowed tho.

I have a friend who applied, in Michigan, for a CPL. He received a letter from the gun board that his application was pending upon further information from him due to mental health board. Some time ago he went through a divorce which he did not want. He and his wife went to some counseling and he went for a couple of sessions on his own as he was having difficulty in dealing with the divorce. He went before the board, explained the situation and received his CPL in the mail the next day. I am not sure how much information the board had from the county health dept. but they accepted his explanation.

Mental health checks

Originally Posted by danv

I have a friend who applied, in Michigan, for a CPL. He received a letter from the gun board that his application was pending upon further information from him due to mental health board. Some time ago he went through a divorce which he did not want. He and his wife went to some counseling and he went for a couple of sessions on his own as he was having difficulty in dealing with the divorce. He went before the board, explained the situation and received his CPL in the mail the next day. I am not sure how much information the board had from the county health dept. but they accepted his explanation.

FWIW, in the context of the OP's question, the WA law spells out what disqualifies someone which is basically that they have been committed or ruled incompetent. I don't think the issue you note from Michigan would be an issue here (assuming that is all there was to it).

I live in WA - no idea where you got this idea from. There is no such thing. If you have been deemed mentally incapable of handling your affairs by a judge, or been committed (against your will) into an insane asylum....I don't think they will let you buy a gun. But there is no mental health check that takes place you when apply for your CPL.